Census 2022 will aid govt’s development agenda – Chief Statistician

The 2022 National Census currently underway across the country, will be used by the government to further streamline its development plans for Guyana.

The national population count, which commenced on September 15, will also produce an analysed and aggregated report that will be used by the government, academics, and private sector.

Chief Statistician of the Guyana Bureau of Statistics, Errol La Cruez, told the Department of Public Information (DPI) on Thursday, that the census report is a public document used as a tool to further Guyana’s development agenda for the future.

“The data that we capture for census covers a variety of areas. At the most basic level, it captures the number of persons in a household, so we are looking to find out, how many people are part of the household and we do this for every household and this gives us our population count,” he explained.

The census provides detailed information on the population size, age structure, educational attainment, labour force, housing, and many other socio-economic characteristics.

He said the information is crucial as it creates a true reflection of Guyana’s population which will inform the policies of the PPP/C Government’s transformative agenda.

Guyana’s last census was conducted in 2012. Since then, there have been many changes across the country.

Meanwhile, the chief statistician is calling on every Guyanese to educate themselves with the census information, which is readily available through various media outlets.

La Cruez has urged citizens to not confuse the census with elections since the population count is not affiliated with political parties. In addition, data being sought by the survey does not inquire about a person’s political loyalty.

His Excellency, Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali at the launch of the census campaign earlier this month demonstrated how census data is used by the PPP/C Government in its housing policies.

“Using Census data, we can say for example, without any fear of contradiction that between 2002 to 2012 the following occurred. Our housing stock increased by 31, 830 units, which is a 17 per cent increase in that decade. These new homes would have provided shelter and security to thousands of families across Guyana. So immediately, we are able to measure the impact of the [government] housing program on our people; what did the housing program achieve and how did it impact families and people’s lives,”  the president stated.

All Guyanese are encouraged to ensure they are counted in this year’s national population census.